A panel of Union Ministers met with the protesting farmers’ leaders for the fourth round of talks in Chandigarh on Sunday.
Leaving from the late-night meeting, Union Minister Piyush Goyal said that a panel of three Union Ministers — Goyal along with Agriculture and Farmer Welfare Minister Arjun Munda and Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai — proposed a five-year plan of buying pulses, maize and cotton crop at minimum support prices from the farmers.
The farmer leaders, on the other hand, said they will discuss the government’s proposal in their forums over the next two days and thereafter, decide the future course of action.
The meeting was held amid the protest by farmers, who were camping at the Punjab-Haryana border, demanding legal MSP guarantee among other things. Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann also sat in on the meeting.
Following the four-hour long meeting, Goyal said that the “innovative” and “out-of-the-box” idea came up during the discussions, adding that the farm leaders will decide on the proposal by Monday morning.
“Cooperative societies like the NCCF (National Cooperative Consumers Federation) and NAFED (National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India) will enter into a contract with those farmers who grow ‘tur dal’, ‘urad dal’, ‘masoor dal’ or maize for buying their crop at MSP for next five years,” said Goyal.
The Minister of Commerce and Industry said that there will be no limit on the quantity (purchased), adding that a portal will be developed for the same.
Goyal said the proposal will save Punjab’s farming, improve the groundwater table, and save the already stressed land from getting barren.
The Union Minister said that the farmers pointed out that they want to diversify into maize crops, however they wish to avoid incurring losses when prices drop below the MSP.
